ICONO has developed a prototype that will be
tested out in order to gain valuable knowledge regarding function,
implementation and maintenance.

The project's goals, among other things,
are to make the latrine easy to clean, to provide it with a seal
that will keep insects away and, simultaneously, to ensure that the
surrounding room - typically a tent - will permit light and air to
penetrate and circulate.

Learn more about The Child-Friendly Latrine
Project in this animation:

video not avalilable

"We have taken our point of departure in the children's need to
use the toilet without being afraid - and at the same time, we are
aspiring to make the latrines as easy to clean and as safe as
possible.

"Moreover, we have sought to fulfil the requirements of
simplicity and minimal maintenance, and we have tried to ensure
that both the size and the weight of the latrine have been adapted
to the eventual transport of the units on pallets to be sent to the
emergency/disaster areas," says Peter Bysted.

The latrine consists of a squatting board made of plastic, a
light superstructure that can be set up over the latrine - and a
unique drop-formed "trap" made of soft silicone with a very smooth
surface. The "drop" is opened by the weight of the excrement or the
urine and closes up again after the excrement has passed on
through. In this way, the odours and the insects will be cordoned
off from the latrine and the tent and accordingly, there will be no
visual contact into the hole under the latrine. The material is
soft and the surface is so smooth that the latrine can operate
without the use of water - or with very little water, like recycled
water from the daily laundry or water that has been used for
cleaning.

"We are well aware that water is a very scarce and very dear
resource in most disaster areas. For this very reason, the latrine
is going to have to operate without having to be flushed every
single time - and we are aware that there must be a minimum use of
water for cleaning and sanitizing. The entire latrine, including
the latrine board, the "drop" and the tent that is to be set up on
top of an aggregate folded together during the process of
transport, so that it will be ready to be unfolded and set up just
as soon as it happens to reach the refugee camp. The bags, within
which the excrement can be collected and eventually transported to
the composting site, have a structure that will allow water and
urine to run out, but which, in fact, is so impervious that it will
prevent the passage of helmint eggs, worms and other pathogenic
organisms", informs Peter Kjær Mackie Jensen. "The solutions
offered with this kind of bag for excrement and this kind of
composting are something that nobody has ever come up with
previously - although it really does appear to be so logical. It's
not the case, however, that there's going to be room every place
for digging two large holes in the earth for the excrement - just
think of mountainous areas or situations in connection with flood
catastrophes - or for implementing a 9-month period of
composting."

Design criteria for the Child-Friendly
Latrine
ICONO has developed the Child-Friendly Latrine on the basis of
certain established design criteria:

As seen from the child's point of view:
this means to say, there is to be no direct visual contact with the
excrement in the hole beneath the latrine; the latrine cabin will
be lit up and will be free of insects; it will be free of
foul-smelling odours; and there will be room for both mother and
child.

Technical criteria: a smooth surface on
the squatting board to ensure that the latrine can be cleaned with
only two litres of water - or even less. The squatting board can be
fabricated in durable plastic.

The surface must be smooth, with rounded corners, and without any
cavities where bacteria or eggs might otherwise deposit themselves,
and it must be serviceable in connection with different kinds of
customary practices of cleaning the latrine - whether these
practices might involve the use of water, paper or leaves
- and it also has to be usable by more vulnerable groups of
people, such as the elderly and the disabled, by means of a
higher-positioned seat, which can easily be placed on the squatting
board and removed again, after use.

Logistics: Low weight (about 50
kilograms per latrine), so the units can be stacked and optimised
for transport; the latrine will possess the dimensions prescribed
by a standard euro-pallet; and every latrine will have everything
included (drain, tent canvas, door, etc.) and can be shipped simply
and without complications.

Easy to empty and to recycle the excrement as
fertilizer: There are two composting systems being
put into play here: one involving a bag that can be removed and
transported away from the latrine and another one that involves
switching use of the latrine back and forth between two different
holes in the earth - after nine months of composting, the
fertilizer can be dug out of the holes in the ground and can be
utilised, safely, for agriculture.